Beware: White Dust Men Ahead!

“Hey! Watch your step!” She shouted from behind me. But, it was too late. I stepped on to a tiny round stone which was not interested in bearing my weight and quickly slipped away when I placed my right foot on it. Thud! Poor earth had to bear a product of 80 kilos and acceleration, with which I fell onto the ground, which I surmise must have been definitely greater than acceleration due to gravity. I heard a roar of laughter behind me and I couldn’t help but smile. I had always enjoyed adventurous sports such as Rappelling, Trekking, Rock climbing. So here I was, trying to cope up with the arduous climb of Sinhagadh in Pune despite my weight and failing (read falling) on many occasions – the woes of becoming healthier!

We were three of us: Bhakti, Sulu and I. Both of them first gasped and inquired about my safety when I had fallen down for the first time, but afterwards it became their food for laughter. I am sure they had expended more energy in laughing at my free falls than what I had in actually falling. I had thought that even I will get a chance to laugh at their “descents”, however, either they were extremely perfect in climbing or they were just lucky enough not to fall and made sure that my “evil” wish remained just that, a wish!

I was the fattest/heaviest/tallest among the lot. Bhakti was tiny and light as a feather, although she had her own problems to cope up with. For instance, her phone wouldn’t stop ringing and she had to answer all the calls. She had to take pictures; after all she had borrowed a friend’s phone especially for this. She had to sit down and repair her bag, which for some reason didn’t cooperate with her during the climb and always snapped at every other step. I don’t blame the bag; it was less of a hand bag and more of a luggage bag. She had stuffed in it a jacket, a sweater and a bottle among other items already present in the bag which had bloated the bag from every angle.

Sulu wasn’t very heavy either. I cannot call her light though. Oh yes, she had her unique set of issues at hand. She had to carry a back-sack which contained “important documents”. The bag was heavy and was making her climb a little less easy. But she had to finish off the entire trekking by 4:30 PM or earlier as she had an appointment with someone. Even after discussions at length, I still haven’t been able to figure out what exactly she wanted to do that day. So, she was sprinting like a deer and was the fastest among us.

Although the plan was to start at 7 early in the morning, we ended up starting at 8:15 from home. That was still alright because there have been times when I have started 3 or 4 hours later than the scheduled time. So, I was happy but Sulu was not, for obvious reasons. On our way to the foothill we stopped by to have some breakfast. I was really hungry, which is not unusual at all because most of the times I am hungry. But this time I was very hungry. So we stopped by a street vendor near the Khadakwaasla Lake. The view was breathtakingly beautiful. It was pretty cold with the temperature around 7-8 degrees and the water was pretty clean. Not many people were around. We ordered for Wada Pav and some onion pakodas (we didn’t have a choice actually; the street vendor had only these two items with him). The pakodas were very oily and we couldn’t finish them off. We then were having tea when the vendor started narrating a weird story to us.

We did not know the verity of that story; however, he told it in such a convincing way that we were forced to believe him. Besides, he couldn’t have gained anything by telling us false anecdotes. He told us about incidents which were taking place on that particular road on which we were standing and having tea. “There are two middle aged guys who have become very unpopular these days. They are known to hypnotize people and steal their valuables. They have a white powdery substance with them which they blow on to the victim’s face after which the victim does whatever he is asked to do. Like a recent incident in which a woman was found at the highway, with all her jewels and money stolen, unscathed and having no idea what she was doing there on the highway”

“This must have happened sometime in the night hours” I said. It was less of a statement and more of a question.
“No Sir. This happened in the broad daylight. Around noon” he replied.
This frightened us a little bit. However, we were determined to go trekking that day and no such story could have deterred us from doing so. So, we finished our morning snacks and paid the person.
“Be careful Sir. Do not get friendly or close to any one” he warned us from behind just when I was about to start my bike.
“Don’t worry! We will take care. Thank you” It was more a consolation to myself than a reply to him.

So, we started off from there and reached the foothill by 9 and started our arduous climb. We had just started when I paid my first respects to mother earth. Thud! It was pretty cold in the morning when we had started from home but the mercury, probably to show off that she was the only liquid metal, wouldn’t stop expanding at all. As a result of mercury’s ostentatious display of her properties, the temperature soared and we were soon stripped off our jackets, now firmly tied around our waists (except for Bhakti’s, it went into her handbag, of course). I hadn’t gone trekking earlier, so I was extremely enthusiastic about the climb that day, despite the falls.

We climbed for about half an hour and looked down. “Not bad! We have done quite well. We are pretty high already. At this rate, we should be up pretty soon.” I remarked.
“Don’t be so sure of yourself Dada. Initially, everyone says that but as we go higher the climb becomes steeper and takes longer” warned Bhakti. I had to trust her. She was the most experienced person amongst us, although she was the youngest amongst as well. She had been to the hill almost seven times. Back at home, everyone mocked at her saying she should become the brand ambassador of Sinhagadh. If she goes there one more time, she will be titled the Sinhagadh Queen. Poor Bhakti! She was so sick of Sinhagadh that she made a vow to herself that she would never return here again. Little did she know then what she said would become reality and she actually would never dare to return after what was about to happen to the three of us.


We decided to hurry up. We hurried up. We tried to climb as fast as possible. But they were just a few meters away. Sulu looked up the hill and then cast her eyes down the hill. No one was in sight other than the two men. It was getting warmer. Sulu was almost running. I was not very far from her but, Bhakti was so bored, tired, irritated that she was climbing at snail’s pace. I was sure that if conducted a race there with her and a snail as the only participants, the snail would have won and by a great margin that. I imagined handing over the winning shield to the snail and it holding the shield the waving to cheering crowd, which of course consisted of Sulu and me. I gave out a hearty laugh. Sulu turned around “What happened?” she enquired.
“Nothing at all. I will let you know later” I replied somehow expecting that Sulu will not like the joke.
We waited for Bhakti to catch up. We couldn’t do anything but wait for her every five minutes of climb. The men we together now. They were one party after all and the party was just a few yards away from us. We could see them clearly now. The taller person was wearing glasses and smoking a cigarette. I decided to wait until they went ahead of us. They were only two and we were three. They cannot possibly do any harm, I had thought. And, that’s when the three of us sat down finding the most comfortable rocks to rest our bums on.
While we were sitting, I chalked out a plan. I told both Sulu and Bhakti “Look, there’s nothing to get scared of. We are three in number they are just two. We will wait here and wait till they go ahead of us. If they come closer to us, we will still wait. But if the taller person directs his hand towards his bag, we hit them with whatever comes to our hand and run down as fast as we can. First Bhakti you will start running, followed by you Sulu and finally me. Is everything clear?”
Both of them nodded nervously. Probably they were not very convinced with my plan but since they could not come up with anything else, they agreed!

The two men came closer. As they were approaching, the taller of the men smoked the butt of his cigarette for a last time and crushed it under his feet, all the while looking at us. My eyes never left his. He then slowly started moving towards us. I thought of clutching a small rock or something and ran my hand around aimlessly, but I couldn’t find anything small enough to carry and big enough to hit the person. He came directly towards me. He put his hand inside the bag he was carrying searching for something. That was it. I could not wait any longer. I hinted at Sulu and both of us were ready. Bhakti immediately started her downward descent. As I expected, we took the men by surprise. Although the stones were small they were pretty effective. The one that I picked up hit the person on his right temple and he immediately clutched his forehead swearing something in Marathi. Sulu, in the mean while had already hit the smaller man with a stick, now where on earth did she find one? He also immediately collapsed on the ground with a hand on the center of his head. I pushed the taller person I had hit so that he fell on the ground. We began running down as fast as we could. After running for about 5 minutes, I turned back to look at our prospective attackers, they were both still sitting there washing their wounds, I guessed. I smiled in triumph. My plan was successful.

Huff puff! We all finally were back near the parking area where we had parked our vehicles. The two men were not to be seen anywhere. We were sure they had not followed us down. I hoped that at least this incident would teach them a lesson and think twice before using that “white-dust” again on any person. We were all very happy and we were smiling and laughing. We decided to hurry up and leave soon as we did not want to risk running into that pair of men again. But I was thirsty, all of us were thirsty. I went to a near by stall and asked for a mineral water bottle. That’s when I noticed something on the wall behind the man. My eyes widened. I stared at the wall in disbelief. This was not possible! This was just not possible! I was not prepared for this.

I had paid the person and he was counting his change back. But I just could not wait anymore. I ran towards Sulu and Bhakti and asked them to hurry up. The man was asking me to take back the money. I could not hear anything. The only things that were flashing in my mind were the photos that were hung on the wall in the stall. They were the photos of the two men we had seen: The White-Dust Men. The only difference was that the photos had garlands over them. We started our bikes and left.
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BACK AT THE FOOTHILL OF SINHAGADH:

After sometime a woman comes out of the house adjoining the stall. She sees the two photographs with garlands on them hung on the wall. She gives out a sigh, “Who put these garlands here? I am sure it must be Papa. I had asked him to put these garlands on the photos of Lord Krishna and Lord Ganesh. Papa is losing his vision day after day. Hari, are you listening? We must take Papa to a doctor as soon as possible. Today he has ‘killed’ our living children, tomorrow he will put the garlands on your and my photos.” She sighs again, removes the garlands and adorns them on the ‘correct’ photos and goes back inside.

The Gunny Man

I felt cheated! I was cheated in fact! I know I am over-reacting. The point was that I had purchased a first class ticket on my way back to Hyderabad from Nasik. And why did I feel cheated? Because the Ticket Collector never came to check the ticket!! I could have as well traveled without the expensive ticket. Okay Kedar, enough of grumbling!

So that was that. I was traveling. I had been to Nasik to see my darling nephew. Two days seems such a small duration when you are with your nephew, more so, if you have been waiting four months to meet him! I had just finished reading "A Carribean Mystery". I don't know why didn't Agatha Christie make Miss Marple a full fledged Detective. It is very irritating when she keeps poking her nose in things without any authority. Anyway, it was a good regular Christie mystery.

I got down at the connecting station at 7:00 o clock from where I was to board my Hyderabad train at 9:00. I had full two hours to spend. It was a small town with nothing much to explore (which I had already done on my way to Nasik because I had to wait for a couple of hours for my connecting train to Nasik as well.) So I decided to stay back on the platform and wait for the train there. And I was doing just that!


The railway platform was pretty desolate and dark. One of my friends had once told me observe people. In his words "Observing people is so much fun". Since I had lot of time to spare and since I had already finished my novel and since the charge in my i-pod was almost zero, I decided to follow his advice. I started observing people. But where were people?? And thats when I realized that it was too early for people to arrive on the station and very few people were there on the platform.So I decided
to just sit there and idle around. After a few minutes, the train slowly pulled on to the platform and stood there like a warrior waiting to leave for a battle. There were still more one and half hours for the train to depart. The warrior would have to wait.

I was getting bored. Nothing to do, absolutely. The mosquitoes there didn't seem to like me. Or did they like me? Why would they suck my blood otherwise? Anyway, So there I was fiercely brushing my arms to keep the blood thirsty insects from sucking my blood. In the midst of it, I suddenly realized I was hungry. A good way to pass time I thought. I unpacked the food that aunt had given me. I wasn't particularly hungry but I had nothing else to do anyway and I had to finish off lunch packed for me.

I just had a couple of pieces of roti and subji when I saw a figure coming towards me. Some people had started coming to board the train. Must be people like me, i thought. But this person was coming from the other direction. How did he manage to come from there when the entrance to the station was on to the other side. He must have got down one of the trains like me, I thought. But I had not seen or even heard any train arrive. There was virtually no one on the station; only a few vendors selling batata wada very far. I thought of getting up and leaving towards a relatively crowded area. The train had boarded but the doors were still locked, So I could not get into the train. But that would have been foolish, he was a fellow traveler after all. I was panicking for no reason, I thought and sat there eating my
dinner.

He came closer. From a distant light on the platform, I could see him partially. He was wearing ragged clothes and was carrying a torn blanket over his shoulders with something that looked like a plastic bag in his hands. The light had cast his faint shadow which was faithfully following him. I happened to look at the shadow and the shadow of the silhouette was particularly disturbing. The flowing blanket gave it a very ominous look. I got reminded of the Dementors of Harry Potter. I shuddered at the very thought of it. Then I said to myself, Stop imagining things! Either stop watching so many movies or stop reading such books. I was really acting stupid
Thats when I decided to shrug it all off and continue eating.

He went past by me. I didn't look at him but from the corner of my eye I could see he was staring at me all the while he was passing by me. I didn't care as far as he left. I relaxed. He had gone. But just to make sure that he had gone, I turned my head in that direction. My head bumped into something that felt like a pile of gunny bags and my glasses flew in the opposite direction. Sincerely obeying the laws of gravity, the glasses landed a few feet from my feet. My worst fear had come true and was standing right in front of me. I bent down to collect my glasses, which were thankfully still intact, all the while knowing that the person was staring
right through me. I felt my knees go weak. I struggled to stand upright. Then I decided to be brave and look directly back into the eyes of the stranger.

I did just that. I was shocked to see....

That man was standing right in front of me with tears in his eyes. I was perplexed. This might sound funny but I just could not imagine that the person who scared the hell out of me with his constant I-will-get-you stares to weep in front of me. All of a sudden I felt stupid. He was just a mendicant. I took a closer look at him. He was wearing clothes made out of gunny bags with a torn blanket pulled over his shoulders. It did not require the knowledge of rocket science to understand why he had come back to me and why he was crying. He was poor, wretched and hungry.

Although I had decided to share my dinner with him, I was surprised with the directness of his approach. He directly asked me if I would give him something to eat. I quickly agreed. I gave him half of what I had. Instead of eating there, he started packing the food. I felt miserable. Here I was, forcing myself to eat what I did not want to eat and there he was, a person in dire necessity of food packing the lent food, probably for a hungry family waiting at home. I asked him to take the entire food. His reply took me by surprise again. He said “Magh tumhi kaay khaanaar saaheb?”(What about you sir?). I could not understand this man. He very well knew that I could buy something for myself to eat, yet he asked me that question. I smiled with tears filled in my eyes (although I don’t think he could see. Firstly because he was too busy packing the food and secondly, the station was very dimly lit). I said I am done with my dinner. He packed everything and left after thanking me.

I felt happy, sad, overwhelmed and guilty, all at the same time. I had read many times in our canteen that “A grain wasted is a drain on nation’s economy” and I had laughed many times after reading that. Now I know one thing for sure that I wont find that line on the canteen wall "funny" anymore.

One day hope will roar through silence....

"Don't worry dude, I m alive and kicking!", he said from the other end of the phone.
"What the hell are you talking about?", I shrieked.
"Don't you know? I am at Koti right now. We heard a thud when we were practicing for the play. we did not realize then, but later we came to know that it was a bomb blast!"
"A bomb what...O my god!", I gasped.
"Yes, we have had a couple of bomb blasts in Hyderabad today. you seem to be out of this world dude. Switch on the Television set, you will know! Okay, I got to go home now. Call you later. bye"
"Hey bye! Do take care. Don't loiter around. Go straight home!"
"Yes! I will. Bye"
"Bye"

I immediately ran out of my room towards the living area . Every channel, everywhere it was the same news! "Hyderabad rocked by twin bomb blasts. 39 feared dead and more than 60 injured." I realized that Hyderabad was no longer a safe city as it had been for years now!

The news channels were apologizing for telecasting it live without any editing. Indeed, it was a ghastly sight. It has been painted in my mind like a dreaded nightmare. Chairs were painted red with the blood oozing out of shards of people. People. Innocent people. Students. Children. Grand parents. Visitors. Tourists. None of them was spared. The bomb knew only one language, the language of death!

These questions might be cliches, but I want to reiterate them. Why do people kill people? Why do they kill anybody for that matter? Have they no compassion? Have they no guilt? Dont they feel love towards their own race? What do they want to prove by killing innocent people? God had made this world without any bias or prejudice, then why do people draw lines between nations and create borders!

I know I am never going to get the answers to the numerous kindred questions arising in my mind. All I want is people to realize that this terror is taking us a step backward. With great advances in technology and software, no doubt we can make sophisticated weapons, bombs and the like. But Is it worth it? Millions of people are homeless. Thousands of them jobless. With all capital going into securing nations, we are snatching the basic right of such people. The right to live.

Now people are scared. I am scared. Scared of having to see such a grisly sight again in my life. Scared of inhuman humans who wear a mask of humanity on their faces. Scared of getting a phone call only to hear that I have lost someone. Scared to switch on a news channel on TV only to know that there has been another blast.I am also ashamed, ashamed to see my reflection in the mirror because I belong to the human race. A race where's no brotherhood. No love. No care. Only hatred. Vengeance. Betrayal. Destruction.

I don't know where is this all going to take us one day but as of now, I know it is only taking us a step backward. If humans are advancing in every walk of life, then humanity is retreating from that very walk of life. What are we going to do with latest mobile phones if the loved ones do not exist anymore? Who will we call? What is the use of an advance feature yahoo messenger, if we cannot chat with anyone?

All this and more has been troubling me since Saturday. I had heard about blasts and all everyday, but had never seen it from such a close range. My heart goes out for people living in Kashmir, Afghanistan and other areas, where they witness such incidents at the blink of the eye. I salute them for their bravery. I respect them for their patience and their optimism. They urge me to become optimistic. They shout through their silence that there is an undying hope in them that one day world will become a better place to live. And from today, I am with them...

Rendezvous with freedom...

I caught the world
I put it in a bubble,
I smiled in triumph,
I scratched my stubble!

Whimpers, wails, whines, wails ,
Human complaints or the animal yammer,
I took absolutely none of it,
Not the noise, neither the clammer!

Then my eyes fell on the jailed bird,
fluttering its wings, trying so hard,
It crashed on its iron confinement,
It lost its feather,not unlike a shard!

The captor crouched on the grass around,
oblivious to the bird's clatter,
insolently announcing the captive's worth,
freedom to him? it didnt matter!

I downed my head in dreaded disgrace,
I was someone I scorned to the core,
I broke the glass,I freed the world,
I found myself at the heaven's door!